Singapore Exchange Limited has announced that Chi-East plans to unwind its operations over the next two weeks.

Chi-East is a 50-50 joint venture between Chi-X Global Holdings LLC ("Chi-X Global Holdings") and SGX (through its wholly-owned subsidiary Asian Gateway Investments Pte. Ltd.).

Chi-East was set up to operate an exchange-backed non display venue in Singapore for selected securities listed in Australia,Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

The launch of Chi-East directly corresponded with a period of slower market volumes globally. Although trading volumes were improving, they were still far short of expectations. Due to commercial considerations and expectations of continued relatively weak business prospects, the decision was taken by the Board of Chi-East to cease operations of Chi-East.

The following statement is to be found on the Chi-East website: 'Due to commercial considerations, Chi-East's shareholders have mutually agreed to cease operations of Chi-East. The last trading day of Chi-East will be 24th May 2012. We will be contacting each client representative directly to follow up on this. We would like to thank you enormously for your support of Chi-East and while we all wish we could have had a different outcome we hope that Chi-East has managed to positively affect the growth of alternative trading venues in the region, and that you as clients have seen some benefits from it.'